Magnetic recording media generally comprise a magnetizable layer supported upon a nonmagnetizable substrate. There are two major forms of magnetic recording media. These are particulate magnetic recording media and continuous thin-film magnetic recording media that are deposited onto the substrate using the various chemical and physical vapor deposition techniques. For particulate magnetic recording media, the magnetizable layer generally contains magnetic pigment particles dispersed in a polymeric binder. Examples of magnetic pigment particles include iron oxides such as gamma-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3, cobalt-modified iron oxides, chromium dioxide, and metallic particles such as Fe, Co, or CoCr.
Of these types of magnetic pigment particles, magnetic iron oxides such as gamma-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 are the most widely used. The iron oxides useful as magnetic pigment particles have an acicular shape, which is the major source of the magnetic anisotropy of these particles.
Conventional magnetic media formulated with gamma-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 typically contain from 70 to 80 percent by weight of the oxide dispersed in the polymeric binder based on the total weight of the magnetizable layer. It has become desirable to achieve higher weight loadings, e.g., at least 83 percent by weight or more, of gamma-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 in the polymeric binder while maintaining critical physical and mechanical properties such as durability, coating adhesion, cohesion, modulus, and impermeability. Such higher weight loadings would offer the potential for improved electromagnetic performance, namely superior magnetic remanence and output than can be achieved with currently available media.
Until now, however, it is believed that no one else has achieved such higher weight loadings of iron oxide magnetic pigments while maintaining critical physical and mechanical properties, such as durability, coating adhesion, cohesion, modulus, and impermeability. Indeed, it is well known that merely increasing the weight loading of the gamma-Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 magnetic pigment in the polymeric binder tends to reduce the durability and composite strength of the resulting media. This failure is documented in the literature as oxide shedding, dusting, head clogging, and dirty running tape.
It is also desirable to achieve improvements in electromagnetic performance, such as simultaneous improvements in maximum output level, signal to print ratio, signal to noise ratio, and sensitivity. Often, however, obtaining an improvement in one of these electromagnetic properties is accomplished at the expense of at least one of the other electromagnetic properties or at the expense of durability. In particular, an improvement in the signal to noise ratio, "S/N", either by signal increase or by noise decrease, previously has been obtained at the expense of the signal to print ratio, "S/P". Bertram et al., J. Audio Eng. Soc., Vol. 28, pp. 690-705 (October 1980).
In short, nothing in the prior art expressly teaches the skilled worker how to achieve higher magnetic oxide loadings and simultaneous improvements in the various electromagnetic properties while, at the same time, maintaining critical physical and mechanical properties, i.e., durability, adhesion, cohesion, and modulus. Our investigations have focused on this problem.